Some set names don't include the plane name where the set takes place. (such as WAR, STX, BRO, MOM, and MKM)Can you tell me when/how/why it happens?

It depends if the focus is on the environment of the world or something else.

Invoking my God-given right to birthday trivia on this January the 8th. I would like something about Strixhaven and ideally any of the following: the card Expressive Iteration, the Witherbloom faction, or the secret ally-colored archetypes in STX draft.

Witherbloom was the first college to get its field of study. Originally it was “soft” sciences like biology and blue/red was “hard” sciences like physics. When Prismari became art, Witherbloom became just science. Happy Birthday!

Hi Mark, I want to register my disappointment that it seems like whenever there's an unusual/unique draft archetype in recent sets, it's almost always severely underpowered. UW tap in WOE, UG scry in LTR, and UG transform in MOM are the three most recent sets and all follow this pattern. Moving back a little further, the RW Lorehold graveyard theme in STX and RG werewolves in MID are also good examples. Can you pass along that limited players would like to see weird themes pushed a little more?

When you’re working with something you’re unfamilar with, it’s a lot riskier to push power levels, because you have no idea exactly what power level you’re at. With themes we’re familiar with we have a better ability to pinpoint where we think they’ll end up. As we repeat themes, it becomes easier to push them appropriately.

Hi Mark, the mention of Lorehold in STX being "disorienting" surprises me a bit. In the arguably pretty dedicated/enfranchised spaces I frequent, people were overall excited about a new approach and the poor reception came from the low power level of the cards, especially how much work was asked for worse payoffs than other colleges/themes. eg. "I wanted it to be good but drafting classic RW aggro works better". Was confusion frequently quoted by the less involved sections of limited players?

Enfranchised frequent drafters usually love when we do something different from the norm. The more casual/average drafters tend to reject formats they find disorienting. The classic example is Rise of the Eldrazi. The hard core drafters adored it, but it got very low marks overall.

Re: American themes in UNF and STXIs this necessarily a bad thing? I don’t necessarily look at “deep cuts” from Kamigawa or Amonkhet and say “that’s offputting how they have primarily Japanese/Egyptian flavor in their set”, I look at it as a cool nod and opportunity to learn about another culture/tradition. Isn’t including some American tropes in one or two particular sets a similar thing?

The issue is that other places have colleges and carnivals. It’s not as if we were doing a Native American set that focuses on specifically American things.

After 10 months of watching this blog and asking questions, I'd like to invoke birthday trivia! My favorite card type is sagas, and I try to fit some into every deck I make. I watch a lot of your DTWs, and one thing I remembered was that sets like ELD, ZNR, and STX also had pushes for sagas in them but they didn't get too far. Is there anything you can say about those? If not, some trivia on the foretell mechanic would suffice.

We liked Sagas, but were worried about making them too often, so we limited how often we used them. As time has gone by and it’s clear the audience is comfortable with us doing more of them, we’ve upped how often they get used. The fact that so many sets wanted to use them was very telling though.Happy Birthday!

The scrapped “forbidden” mechanic from AVR sounds similar to “learn/lesson” from STX, but the lessons were all *weaker* than normal cards, not stronger. Was “learn/lesson” based on forbidden, or am I just drawing connections where there aren’t any?

Lessons were actually a riff on inventions, a mechanic from Kaladesh that we didn’t end up using. While there are some similarities (getting things from outside your deck), they played very differently.

Are the themes explored in STX locked in to Arcavios? Or could we see them elsewhere?

Which themes are you talking about?

I’m sorry mark but i’m still confused about the two Innistrad sets and size of standard thing. So, the next standard season will have 5 sets (MID, AFR, STX, KHM, & ZNR). 1 year from now when The Brother’s War releases, standard will rotate and have 6 sets (Brother’s War, Dom United, New Capena, Kamigawa, Crimson Vow, & Midnight Hunt). Is this incorrect? p.s. the new day/night mechanic looks awesome and i loved reading the design history in your new article

Dominaria United is the first set of the new season (akin to Midnight Hunt), and when it rotates Standard, there will be five sets in Standard. Brother’s War will come out two months later (like Crimson Vow).

Do you think we can get a planeswalker with a physical disability for some representation?
Killian (the uncommon from STX) knows how to sign (kind of) but we don't have a deaf planeswalker to my knowledge.

We obviously can have more, but we do have some. Daretti is in a wheelchair.Tezzerett is missing an arm. Narset is neuro-atypical.